


romance me with your leather jacket

by myscribblingquill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Marauders' Era, Perfume, Romantic Fluff, Valentine's Day, shop owners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 08:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17783825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: Owning a perfume shop makes Valentine's Day interesting, especially when the bakery shop owner from a few doors down keeps trying to give Mary suggestions for a new perfume. His ideas are mostly terrible but there are some that she can get on board with, particularly those that involve a bottle of wine.





	romance me with your leather jacket

**Author's Note:**

  * For [prongsno](https://archiveofourown.org/users/prongsno/gifts).



> for grace <3
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!

The week leading up to Valentine’s Day was always an interesting time. There was the reams of chocolates, and cards, and flowers, that had all arrived weeks earlier to be placed out on display. Mary quite liked setting up the display’s, but the constant flow of uninterested people picking out the cheapest bottle of perfume they could find got on her nerves. 

Her only comfort was the it wasn’t as bad a Christmas, and that all the leftover chocolate would be cheap on February 15th.

“Good morning everyone,” Dorcas’ voice echoed around the little alcove where their was a row of smaller business’ were housed. 

They were, as Lily liked to called them, the wedding row, the one stop shop for anything that you might need for your trip down the aisle -- that was also what the marketing ads said, but Lily claimed it was her saying first. The actual wedding shops, tailor to the brides-to-be, and grooms-to-be, were the first few shops, and then rest of the shops filled in the empty displays after them. The jewellers, flower shop, three more dress shops that were in a constant competition to outdo each other with their disgustingly coloured dresses. Then the perfume shop where Mary had been working for the past three years, and next to them, at the apex of the alcove, the cake shop that made her stomach crave sugar at all hours of the day.

“Morning Dorcas,” Mary waved across the square to Dorcas as she pulled up open the security screen that was in front of her shop. 

“No Lily this morning?” Dorcas said conversationally as she started to set up the flower displays that she put up outside her windows. 

“No,” Mary’s co-owner was busy for the next few hours, “She’s got some shopping to do,” Mary flicked her eyes to the cake shop that already had its lights on.

“Ah, well it’s a very important day for all of us,” Dorcas chuckled.

Somewhere tucked away inside the shop James Potter probably had icing sugar on his face, completely unaware of his girlfriends shopping trip. They’d only been together for a little over ten months so it was going to be their first Valentine’s together. Mary was mostly glad that she wouldn’t have to put up with Lily staring longingly at James anymore.

“Have you got anything planned?”

“Yep, Marlene and I are going away for the weekend,” Dorcas‘ face erupted in a grin.

“Where are you off to?”

“No idea,” Dorcas tucked her final flowers into her display and stood back to survey it proudly, “She won’t tell me.”

Mary walked over to Dorcas’ storefront, “It looks beautiful, like it does every day,”

Dorcas drop her head with a small smile. Mary could never keep her eyes of the creations that Dorcas came up with, she managed to blend the colours and the flowers to create jaw-dropping creations that went with any theme that her customers wanted. 

“What about you? Any plans for the weekend?” 

“Not this year,” Mary shook her head. 

For the last few year she’d been dating someone during February but she’d broken up with her last boyfriend months around. She couldn’t be bothered to schedule a date for the day either, not wanting it to go horrible, so Mary was quite content to spend her day catching up on housework, and eating the cheap chocolate she’d promised herself she wouldn’t buy. 

“I’ll make sure to send you some flowers,” Dorcas gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.

Mary gently nudged her back, grateful for the tight knit community that had quickly developed between the shop owners. 

“We should probably get to our jobs,” Dorcas joked after they’d been stood staring at her flowers for a few minutes.

“At least we’re all here on time,” Mary said, and turned her gaze to Sirius had arrived with one minute to spare before the shops were due to open.

“Macdonald, Meadows,” He nodded.

“Sirius,” Dorcas pointed a finger at him, “You know our names,”

“I can’t keep a rivalry going if we’re on friendly terms,” He paused and then added, “Meadows,”

“It doesn’t need to be a rivalry if you keep losing Black,” Mary tapped her fingers against the front window of the perfume shop. 

Their shops had only been opened three years ago, but since the first day when James and Remus revealed their cake display, Sirius had declared that they’d be the ones to always have the best window. It really was a little unfair when they were able to display delicious looking cakes, but Mary liked to think that either Dorcas’ flowers would be more eye catching or the glittering display of colour that she’d spent hours arranging would make their window the best. 

“Ha, I don’t think so Macdonald,” Sirius surveyed the window. Mary could still see him through the glass, but she angled her body away from him. “Wait,”

Mary tried to bite down the grin that crept across her face. Sirius burst into the shop, and quickly made his way over to their newest display case.

“I knew you listened to all my ideas,” Sirius preened as he read the name for their newest release. 

“Only the name,” Mary sighed, and gave him a smile. “The ingredients you suggested made it smell like vomit. The idea was good though,”

“Told you so, now I think you should do the next one based in the smell of leather jackets,” 

“No,”

“Mary,”

“You had a good idea with the Lock-of-Light, but I’m not making a perfume that smells like leather,” Mary walked away so she could get away from the smell of his leather jacket. She’d spent too long thinking about that smell, she didn’t need something that would make her shop smell like it too.

“You haven’t even tried it,” Sirius said, with a huge grin that Mary narrowed her eyes at when he took a step closer.

“Don’t you have a shop to run?”

“James has been there since six this morning,” He waved a hand dismissively. When Mary let out small sigh of disapproval, he continued, “Pete’s been there too, I didn’t just let him loose by himself.

“But you have customers now,” Mary pointed out the window towards the woman approaching the cake shop.

“Damn, you’re right. I shouldn’t let James talked to anyone when he’s had two cups of coffee already,”

He turned quickly to the door and Mary let him pull it open before shouting after him.

“It would have to be soap if it was going to smell like leather,”

Sirius gave her a thumbs up as he ran past the window, and a ten minutes later her phone pinged with a new message.

 

_ Sirius Black: _

_ I knew you’d see the merit in my incredible skills of smell _

 

_ Mary Macdonald: _

_ I’m not making it. No one will buy it _

 

_ Sirius Black: _

_ I WILL BUY ANY LEATHER SOAP YOU MAKE _

 

Mary spent a few hours trying to figure out the best ingredients for the soap but she eventually gave up when the stream of customers kept interrupting her. With only two more day till the 14th, which luckily feel on a Saturday this year, there was an influx of people looking for gifts and cards for their loved ones. Throughout the day Mary found herself getting more annoyed as most customers barely even looked at the product before bringing it up to the counter. 

The poster that Mary lugged from her car to the shop the next morning was the best solution that she could come up with. A comprehensive, and easily readable guide, to picking the perfect perfume. Some people thought that perfume was an easy gift but Mary was of the opinion that taking a few minutes to think about a gift before buying it was all it took to make sure that it meant something.

That and she was fed up of restocking the same two shelves every afternoon.

The poster worked, and by the time Friday afternoon rolled around she had a nicely depleted stock in all six of their perfume racks.  

“Have you finished with all the bottles from Wednesday?” Lily poked her head out from the back of the shop, her hair covered with a hairnet and a long white apron hanging down below her knees. 

“Yeah, I was just experimenting,”

“What were you trying to make?” Lily wrinkled her nose, “They smell gross,”

“Leather,” 

Lily laughed, “That explains the smell,”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Mary chuckled, “Sirius thinks he’s the next perfume genius.”

“I told you that was a bad idea,” Lily nodded towards the display case.

“It was a good idea,” Mary protested. “It smells amazing,”

“Yeah because that’s the only reason you spent three days trying to perfect it,” Lily raised an eyebrow, and then disappeared before Mary could protest.

The flow of customers had slowed but there was still the odd person with a harassed look on their face wandering about the shopping center. Mary surprisingly, like the days after Valentine’s more than the ones before. All of the newly engaged couples would be looking to start planning their perfect wedding, and they would still be in their first few days of newly-engaged bliss. Seeing them staring at Dorcas’ flower arrangements, or James’ cakes and discussing what they wanted at their wedding never failed to fill her with joy.

“Who’s working tomorrow?” Lily asked when she returned from the back.

“Let me have a look,” Mary brought up the rota, “Ella and Austin.”

“There’s some more stock that needs to go out and we need to start organising for the summer stock,”

Mary tapped the computer, “They’re both on the list. We’ll need to change the display on Monday,”

Lily winced and stared at the window, making Mary laugh. Changing the display was the job that Lily hated the most, luckily it was Mary’s favourite thing to do.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already got a plan. We’ve got a rivalry to win remember?” 

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes, “I think we’re gonna have to use some sabotage to be them,”

“Oh,” Mary wiggled her eyebrows, “So you’re going to seduce the keys to his shop from James. Good idea,”

A small blush rose over Lily’s cheeks, “I’m playing the long game. Get him to fall in love with me and then I’ll have a never ending cake supply.”

“From what you showed me you shouldn’t have any problems,”

“Mare, we’re at work,” Lily weakly protested. 

“I was at work when you asked for my opinion,” Mary grinned at her friend who was turning redder and redder by the second. She knew that Lily was a little nervous about her first Valentine’s day with James but from the way that James looked at her, Lily had nothing to worry about. 

“Yeah because I couldn’t decide. I needed my best friends help,” Lily wrapped an arm around Mary’s shoulders and gave her a hug. 

“You’ll have a great weekend, it’s just James,”

“What if I screw it up?” Lily rested her head on Mary head so she couldn’t see her face.

“Lil, come on. Even if you do you’ll fix it because it’s James and you’ve been in love with him for years,” Mary leant forward and turned her head up to face Lily. She was biting her lip, and she had her hair pushed behind her ears in the way she always did when she was worried about something.

“If anything goes really badly, you’ll fix it Lily. Or James will because he’s just as in love with you,”

Lily gave her a small smile. “I haven’t been in love with him for years.”

“Of course not, that’s why he gets you to try out the new sweets beforehand,”

“It’s not like I make him perfumes,” Lily retorted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mary stuck her tongue out at her but quickly withdrew it as the door opened. It was only five minutes to closing so Mary hope the customer would be quick about making their choice. 

“I’m going to start shutting up,” Lily nodded towards the back. 

“Alright, I’ll -” She nodded towards the shop and rose off her chair to find the customer and offer her assistance.

She found them by the new display. Sirius was stood admiring the bottle and marketing ads that Mary had created for the perfume.

“You have got to stop staring at it or it’ll go to my head,” Mary said, and he turned to her with a grin.

“Don’t forget that it was my idea,”

“Yeah but it my design skills that you’re staring at,”

“Well, it does help when you have a fantastic produce to work around,”

Mary let out a small laugh. She moved away from the display and towards the door. One minute until closing, and then she could flip the sign on the door.

“I hope you’re not here to buy anything. We’re closing soon,” She tapped her watch.

Sirius shuffled on his feet a little and then presented her with a box. It was decorated in the Valentine’s Day wrapping that they used, and there was a small card tucked into the flap.

“I know it’s not Valentine’s Day yet, and that it’s supposed to be a couples thing but I wanted you to have this,” He held out the box, and raised his eyes to meet hers with a shy smile.

“Sirius,” Mary raised her hand slowly towards the box.

“Mary, I -” Sirius started and then broke off as Lily shut the back door of the shop. He took a step forward and Mary’s fingers wrapped around the box.

“Thank you,” Mary said under her breath and returned Sirius’ smile.

“Sirius, what are you doing here?” Lily asked as she flipped over the sign on the door.

“Just admiring my creation,”

Mary could almost hear Lily’s eyeroll, as she grabbed her back from behind the desk, and flicked off the lights. She placed the box in her back, keeping it balanced as her finger brushed against the card. Her heart was beating a little to fast, and she could her blood rushing through her brain. Sirius had given her a Valentine’s Day gift, and she didn’t quite know how to react.

Lily and Sirius were still talking when Mary rejoined them, but Mary could feel Sirius’ gaze lingering on her. She gave him a warm smile, and tugged the door behind them as they walked out the door.

It was easy to keep the conversation going as they made their way down to the car park, where James was waiting for Lily. 

“I’ll see you on Monday, Mare,” Lily gave her a hug, and blew a kiss at Sirius before she jumped into James car.

“You’re not going back to your place with them,” Mary asked. She opened her car and placed her bag on to the seat. Sirius was standing close enough that she could smell his leather jacket, not the smell she’d tried to create but the real leather jacket smell that was mixed up with Sirius cologne, and his laundry detergent.

“Not for a while, they’re going to Lily’s place for the weekend but I gonna wait till I know I’m not going to walk in on them,” Sirius gave an exaggerated shudder.

“I love Lily, but I’m glad we don’t live together anymore,” Mary said.

“I found them in the kitchen, at five am,” Sirius groaned and shook his head, but Mary couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of her.

“Isn’t when James leaves most mornings?”

“I was being a supportive friend, I was going to make coffee. I didn’t need to see that,” Sirius gave another shudder.

Mary hadn’t noticed that he’d moved closer as she’d been laughing. He was stood just in front of her, his leather jacket nicely moulded to his shoulders with a slightly dirty t-shirt underneath. 

“Sirius,” Mary said, and took a deep steadying breath. “Have you got any plans tomorrow?”

“No, I couldn’t decide who deserved the pleasure of my company so I decided to keep it all for myself,” He said with a blaze air but without his usual tone of confidence.

“Me either,”

“I was considering asking someone but I might just wait it out until next year,”

Mary looked up at him and saw that he was watching her intently. She could feel her heart beating faster than normal. Sirius was close enough that she could reach out and touch him. Mary wanted to be brave enough to pull him close and press her lips to his. She’d wanted to kiss Sirius for months, but having him standing in front of her looking at her like she was the only thing he wanted, almost gave her that last bit of courage.

“I have a bottle of wine that I’ve been saving for a special occasion,” 

“Considering that it’s Valentine’s Day I don’t think you should be drinking along Macdonald,” Sirius cocked his head and grinned down at her. 

She smiled back, “Well, I think we need to come up with a special occasion before I decide to drink it,”

Sirius took a step toward her, pressing his chest to her and Mary was very thankful that she was leaning against the car. Her knees felt a little weak and her arm were on fire as Sirius traced his fingers up to her mouth. His hand cupped her cheek. Mary leant into it and grabbed on to his jacket.

“If I kiss you, does that count as a special occasion?”

“Absolutely,” Mary pulled him closer and went on to her tiptoes to look him in the eye. “You’d better not be doing this to get another bottle of perfume out of me,”

“Nah, I’m going to buy you a leather jacket so you can smell like me,” Sirius grinned.

He pressed his hand into the smaller of her back, almost lifting Mary off the ground. Then he kissed her and Mary stopped thinking about perfume, and the leather jacket that she was finally able to touch, and she kissed him back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This AU came out of nowhere, but I kinda like it so there might be some more of it when I have a spare moment to write!


End file.
